While rifling through a small tray in my refrigerator on which I keep thinks like jars of mustard, cornichons, capers, tapenade and sundried tomatoes, I noticed a jar of hoisin sauce. Moments later, while looking in my cupboards, I noticed ANOTHER jar of Hoisin sauce. Why on earth do I have so much Hoisin sauce, I wondered to myself.
I ought to point out that I'm a bit of a sucker for those articles you see in various food magazines about keeping a well stocked pantry. They always have a huge list (and typically a tantalizing still-life like portrait of various cans of this and that, bags and boxes of pasta, jars of whatever) of everything YOU MUST have on hand at all times, so you can whip up, say, linguine with clams, at a moment's notice and not have to swing by the market. I would have to assume one of these articles listed Hoisin sauce as a pantry staple.
And so I headed over to Epicurious to get some ideas for what I might do with all the Hoisin sauce I happen to have lying around. I came across a recipe for something called "Mahogany Beef Stew." (Don't you LOVE that name? Anytime I encounter the word "mahogany" I instantly picture Miss Diana Ross staring as the high fashion model, posing for Tony Perkins, while wearing costumes of her own design.) The recipe seems to be a variation on the French dish Beef Bourguignon, in which chunks of beef, carrots, mushrooms and onions are cooked for hours upon hours in a sauce of red wine and tomatoes. This version, in addition to the red wine, has hoisin sauce. I love recipes that have little interesting twists like that. And so, I decided to give it a try.
First I gathered and prepared all my ingredients.
INGREDIENTS
olive oil
3 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces and seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper
2 medium onions, chopped or sliced into half moons
2 cups Cabernet Sauvignon
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
3/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 bay leaves
1 pound peeled baby carrots
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
salt and freshly ground pepper
chopped fresh parsley
METHOD
In a large pot over medium high heat, coat the bottom with the oil. When the oil glistens, add some of the meat, leaving spaces between the cubes. Brown the meat for a few minutes on each side and then remove to a plate. Do not over crowd the pot otherwise the meat will not brown properly. Continue browning the meat in batches, adding more oil if necessary.
Next reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and a little more oil. Pour in any of the juices that have accumulated from the reserved, browned meat. Season the onions with a little salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes, until carmelized.
Add the browned meat back to the pot and mix with the onions. Add the tomatoes and juice, 1 cup of wine, the 2 bay leaves and the hoisin sauce.
Bring to a boil. Cover the pot reduce the heat and simmer for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally.
Add the carrots and another cup of wine and simmer, covered for an another 30 minutes, or until the carrots are fork tender.
Remove the lid, crank the heat to high and boil for 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Reduce the heat to medium, add the disolved corn starch, and cook for 8 more minutes. Discard the bay leaves, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary. Scatter with chopped parsley.
Yes, I know this takes quite a while to make, but seriously, what ELSE do you have to do? Although I have to say, once I finally sat down with my bowl steaming stew, I was slightly underwhelmed.
(This was partly because, to accompany the stew I made some mashed potatoes with thinly sliced green onion, which I thought would compliment the subtle Asian flavor of the hoisin sauce, however in making the potatoes I did not use any milk or buttermilk or cream. Just a little butter and some chicken stock, which I thought would sort of bind the potatoes well enough into a creamy mash. Let me just say, chicken stock is no substitute for buttermilk.)
Don't get me wrong, I thought the stew tasted really interesting but I was on the fence as to whether it was worth the time investment. YET I reserved judgement because, as is often the case with this sort of meal, the flavors need to sit overnight so they can really deepen and meld together. The next night, I reheated the stew and Mark and I tried it again and this time I LOVED it. This is one of those cases where it's not that it's better if it sits over night - it NEEDS to. The meat was fork tender but wasn't falling apart. The carrots were perfectly cooked, not at all mushy. The sauce was a deep rich lacquered mahogany (Hey! I'll bet that's where the name came from) color and the hoisin sauce adds a really nice garlicky sweetness. I wished I'd had some crusty bread to dip in and sop up the sauce.
It would be great to serve for a dinner party since you should make it the day before and then reheat. It was fine with potatoes but I feel like rice might be better.
Your gluttony disgusts me, by which I mean I love it.
I have never tried buttermilk in mashed potatoes, because the concept of buttermilk grosses me out, BUT I make mine with like two sticks of butter and cream, so it's sort of the same thing. And lots of salt. A health food, it is not.
Posted by: Jessica | December 18, 2005 at 05:21 PM